Drive away awnings

Looking at buying a drive away awning for  my old peugoet boxer (symbol ). I'm finding most awnings I have looked at have sewn in groundsheets yet most caravan sites seem to want breathable ground sheets what do people do?

My question would be why do you want an awning at all? A wind out awning is fitted to vehicle side/roof and stows away easily, doesn't care if wet either.
Main reasons though would be.....
1 Where do you plan to store it in a fairly small van (I have a mental problem with having to move something to get to something else!!)
2 What if you have to store it wet, clearly it'll have to be dried out sometime?
3 With a Symbol you have a car sized vehicle (from a parking point of view) which you can uses as a car to explore your new surroundings, do you really want to have to disconnect (even from a drive away awning) just to nip down the town to get some milk?

Just thoughts, hopefully not offended, as a minimalist I avoid putting anything in the van which isn't necessary!

A wife ,child  a dog and 2 weeks away . Its a small van which suits me fine but unless we all wearing same clothes for a 2 weeks and dont take anything remotely fun then it would be plenty big enough.  As it is space needed so can have change of clothes,the child can take a few toys and the dog can have dog bowl . Extra space so I don't commit murder to said child and wife would probably make them happy too

Luke- bert wrote:Looking at buying a drive away awning for  my old peugoet boxer (symbol ). I'm finding most awnings I have looked at have sewn in groundsheets yet most caravan sites seem to want breathable ground sheets what do people do?

Getting a removable groundsheet was one of my top priorities when choosing an awning, for the reason you mention. Kampa do a range of excellent drive away awnings, with removable ground sheets and I ended up with one of their inflatable types.

If I’m staying on one site for an extended period, I take the awning for the extra space for all of our sea kayaking kit and also for a bit of extra space for my Labrador and his wet dog towels.

The awning doesn’t come away with me on the trips where I’m constantly on the move and like Ian suggests, I manage with the wind out canopy.

Drive away awnings can be a pain, if you let them. We gave up connecting and disconnecting ours as it was just too much faff. We ended up parking the van just a foot or so from the awning and using the awning as a tent. 

Wind out awnings are really just sun shades. If you go the whole deal and fit sides and front then they're a pain to keep assembling and disassembling every time the wind blows or you need to visit the butchers.

Conclusion - all awnings are a pain but using a driveway as a tent is probably the best option.

Had one 15 years ago and just coming back to it ,the whole sewn in ground sheets just threw me when campsites seem to not wont them . Probably won't end connecting remeber  that part being a pain whacking side of van in the night  plus probably  drive off with it attached, I have to tell meself unclip the electric hook up every morning im away i dont wont to be the one that drags  the site electrics around the campsite